HildeSchjerven.net

Free Educational Resources Available on the HHMI website

HHMI is the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. It is a
non-profit institution dedicated to supporting high quality
research and education. They offer multiple resources, and
here I will highlight some of the resources in regards to
education.

How to explain Evolution to your school kids?

Evolution is an interesting and fundamental biologic concept,
but can perhaps be challenging to explain properly. HHMI has
created a series of professional quality short videos (10-15
minutes) for use in schools. Furthermore, these films are
provided for free: You can watch them through online streaming
(see links below), or request free DVD's.

"The Making of the Fittest" Trilogy of Short Films:

Did you know that some fish do not have red blood? It has
for a long time been assumed that all vertebrates have red
blood, as red blood cells are crucial for transportation of
oxygen. However, on a cold winter day in December 1927, the
Norwegian marine biologist Ditlef Rustad pulled up a strange
pale fish from the Antarctic ocean: a fish that had
colorless blood! This fish, initially named "The
Crocodile Fish", and later known as the Icefish, has since
then been studied by several scientists, in order to
elucidate the secret of how an animal can survive without
red blood cells.

Smaller animals, like for instance mice, that are the
targets of various predators, need to be able to hide in
order to survive. One crucial trait is the ability to blend
into the environment, for instant with fur color that is
similar to the colors in its environment. But what happens
if the environment suddenly change? In this short film, you
learn how the Pocket Mouse adapted through natural selection
to a changing environment after lava flow turned the
otherwise light-colored desert floor into a dark black lava
rock environment.

Last, but not least, in this initial mini-series of
evolution, we learn about natural selection in humans. A
great example is provided with sickle cell anemia, and we
follow patients, doctors and the scientist Dr. Tony Allison
in exploring how this trait has survived during evolution.

You can watch these videos as live streaming through the
above links, or you can request a free
DVD copy here. This site also contains information about
other educational material provided for free by HHMI. In
relation to the above films, they have created extensive classroom
material and handouts for use together with the films,
including teachers material, student handouts, and student
quiz. Please do remember to leave feedback
to HHMI, so that they know that their website is helpful, as
this will be important in the justification and maintenance of
the HHMI educational program.

You can find more information about other excellent resources
for teachers provided for free on the HHMI bio-interactive page.
Check it out for yourself and explore!

Grants and Scholarships

In addition to the generous support of excellent and
well-established scientific researchers throughout the US (see
list of HHMI Investigators), HHMI also provides various
Grants
for Science Education. For instance, HHMI provides
individual summer or one-year scholarships to encourage young
undergraduate or graduate students to spend time in a high
quality research lab.The programs might vary, so check their
website for updated information, but here is one ongoing
program that is currently listed:

The HHMI Medical
Research Fellows Program provides the opportunity for
medical, dental and veterinary students to spend a summer or a
full year in the laboratory of well established HHMI
investigators, to get real first-hand experience in academic
biomedical research.